January 31, 2012, Tuesday
Weining Lu Metro Line 2 Station

The first movie I get to watch in Shanghai was Toy Story 3, in 3D, at Yonghua Cinema, Grand Gateway. I paid 120RMB.

This is China. There must be a much more affordable way to watch a movie on a wide screen theater.

If you live in Shanghai, you have probably seen these ATM-looking booths in the Metro Stations. Well, this is your key in getting them, cheaper movie tickets.

I wanted to watch Mission Impossible 4: Ghost Protocol, this is what I picked.

2. Select your preferred dates from the options. You can book three days in advance. Then choose your movie from the selection.

3. Click the orange button at the bottom of the screen to view the list of cinemas showing the movie selected.

The closest cinema near my place is Tianshan Cinema however they only have MI4 in Chinese so I chose the movie cinema located in an area where I am familiar with (read: I know how to get there and there will be a slim chance of me getting lost finding it).

So, I picked the cinema that has Huai Hai 淮海 in it.

4. Select the cinema. It will show the address and which Metro Line and bus numbers to take to get there.

5. Pick the movie time schedule. Make sure to choose the time with 英语(English). Unless you want to watch it in Chinese. Good luck with that.

6. Pick your seats and then enter your mobile phone number to get your confirmation code. You need the confirmation code to get into the movie house. 

7. Then select the Unionpay card icon for mode of payment. Enter your card, enter your password and then Easy Life will print you a proof of purchase.

That’s it.

If you are up for more adventure. You can also use Easy Life to pay your utilities and recharge your Metro Card. It is very user-friendly, just follow the pictures.

According to this website, there are 86 movie theaters around Shanghai to choose from. If you want to try Easy Life, I suggest that you write down the name of your movie cinema in Chinese or familiarize the Chinese characters of the local areas that you visit frequently.

But of course, you can also find your regular list of movie theaters somewhere else.

January 31, 2012, Tuesday
Everywhere around Tianshan Road

Dear Mother,

Today, Dave and I were off to go to Pines.

Dave got some information from his Filipino friends that we could get Bagoong, Bangus (Milk Fish) and other food products that we do not normally get in our local grocery store.

He has been hinting for a long time on how much he misses Bagoong. So, off we went.

On our way to get into the Metro Line 2, we stopped by the Online Ticket Machine to book a movie ticket for Wednesday, February 1, 2012. It is my first time to try out this service. This is another convenient way for paying utilities and buying movie tickets online.

Choose the date and the movie you want to watch. Then press the orange box at the bottom left part of the screen to go to another screen. The next screen will show the list of movie houses where you can watch the film, screening schedules to choose from and most importantly, information on which movie theater will show the film in 英语, Ying1Yu3 (English).

It is also good to note that buying movie tickets this way is much cheaper than buying them at the movie houses. We bought our tickets for 38RMB per person but the movie house was priced at 100RMB – pretty good deal.

After getting our movie tickets, we then got into Line 2 Train, to continue to our journey to Pines, and get that Bangus.

The plan was to get off at Beijinxing Road Station then walk towards Jianhe Road to take Bus 91. This bus will take us to Pines.

However, it took a long time for the bus to arrive. While waiting, the 兰州拉面Restaurant across the street was very inviting.

It reminded me of the Chicken Noodles in Tomato Paste that I always order for lunch at work.

The restaurant was packed. And as they say with restaurant patrons, more people means food must be good.

This is Mr. Noodle, preparing the noodles of your choice.

Rolling, rolling and rolling some more.

A little twist here and there.

He throws the noodles into that window, right into a pot of boiling water.

When my noodles were served, I was too hungry to remember to take picture of the final product. All I remember was it has a thicker sauce and a bit tastier than the ones I always had (pictured above).

I am too lazy to rotate this picture. These are my Bangus.

Now, we will try to remove the bones out from these bad boys so it would be much easier to eat. 

Dave and I were watching some videos online on how to remove the bones. We need some mosquito forceps to do so and maybe some time this week, we will try to do just that. 

That will be our next assignment.

~ Your  loving daughter